This application relates generally to the field of systems, devices and methods that provide alerts in response to seismic events and/or systems and devices that control utilities, such as water or gas pipelines, in response to seismic events.
Seismic events, i.e., earthquakes, vary in strength and damage depending on the magnitude of the seismic event, the distance from the event, the type of terrain, etc., such that the seismic event may result in little or no damage to life and infrastructure (buildings, roads, utilities, etc.) or may result in massive and widespread damage and loss of life. The damage may result from direct shock and tremor effects, such as building collapse, or from secondary dangers, such as gas explosions, fires or flooding. Rapid and widespread warnings upon the occurrence of a seismic event may reduce loss of life and secondary damage to infrastructure. The most common known seismic event monitoring systems rely upon physical sensor devices that react to tremors or shockwaves produced by an active seismic event. Such devices may be as simple as pedestal switches, mercury switches, tilt switches or the like that are affected by physical vibrations, or may be more complicated devices involving integrated circuits on electronic microchips, microprocessors or the like also affected by physical vibrations.
One way to mitigate secondary damage to structures is to cut off gas, water and/or electrical flow when a seismic event occurs. Manual control of utilities by homeowners and business owners is a possible way to address this, but it is unlikely that such actions will be undertaken upon the occurrence of a seismic event, given that personal safety will be the paramount motivating factor for any action and that the time from a warning alert to experiencing the damage from the seismic event may be only a matter of seconds. In view of this, California, the state most prone to seismic events, has promulgated regulations requiring homes and businesses to have automatic cutoff valves for gas pipelines that are responsive to seismic events. Similar devices are known for automatically cutting off the delivery of water and electricity as well. The devices are typically vibration sensitive such that they respond to physical effects, i.e., tremors or shock waves. It has proven difficult to design such devices which are able to distinguish between actual seismic events versus false positives caused by sonic booms, truck traffic, building construction, etc., meaning that the threshold sensitivity of the devices must be set artificially high to avoid the false positives.
Strong ground tremors from an earthquake travel at about 2 miles per second, so it is possible to detect a large earthquake near its source and broadcast a warning of imminent strong tremors to more distant areas before the tremors arrive. Systems known as Early Earthquake Warning (EEW) systems are known. Such EEW systems are operational in several countries around the world, including Mexico, Japan, Turkey, Romania, China, Italy, and Taiwan. The (USGS) operates such an earthquake monitoring and warning system which initiates the broadcast of Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) upon the occurrence of a seismic event.
Since 2006 the United States Geological Service (USGS) has been developing EEW and WEA systems for the United States, with the help of several cooperating organizations including the California Geological Survey (CGS), the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES), the Moore Foundation, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Washington, and the University of Oregon. The goal is to provide an effective EEW system for the highest risk areas of the United States, beginning with the West Coast states: California, Washington, and Oregon.
These current systems can only detect and provide warning alerts and/or control utilities flow simultaneously or shortly after the occurrence of the seismic event. Recently a reliable system for monitoring and predicting seismic events has been developed whereby early, non-physical seismic signals detected by satellites are used to provide earlier notice of a seismic event. Rapid movement of the Earth's crust generates electromagnetic radiation which disrupts or alters electromagnetic fields, ionosphere plasma and high-energy particles. These effects, sometimes referred to as lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere (LAI) coupling effects, can be sensed prior to the time that the crust movement produces the actual surface level tremor or shock. Such satellite-based systems have been shown to detect the dangerous seismic event as much as several hours prior to its effective occurrence on the surface. By detecting these electromagnetic signals, warning alerts and/or utilities flow control signals can be initiated by a satellite-based system much sooner than with the known ground-based systems.
It is an object of this invention to provide a seismic alert and utilities control system and methodology that is both responsive to ground-based physical detection of seismic events as well as predictive, in the sense of satellite-based detection of electromagnetically-produced signals which occur prior to any physical effects being detectable by ground-based physical sensors. It is a further object to provide such a system and methodology that utilizes a combination of ground-based and satellite-based seismic event monitoring systems. It is a further object to provide such a system and methodology that optimizes delivery of warning alerts and/or utilities control signals, both in terms of controlled broadcast distribution to affected regions and in terms of providing multiple, redundant alert distribution systems. It is a further object to provide such a system and methodology that incorporates differing and/or redundant triggering and sensing systems for distribution of alerts and utilities control actuations. It is a further object to provide such a system and methodology that optimizes the ability of utilities providers and utilities users to return the utilities to operational status after the seismic event. It is a further object to provide such a system and methodology able to transmit data to utilities providers, facilities operators and other users indicating post-seismic-event status or condition. It is a further object to provide such a system having a dedicated software interface for smartphones, tablets or personal computers providing operational control and information to the user. It is a further object to provide utilities control units associated with utilities metering devices, and/or utilities control mechanisms responsive to utilities control units, the utilities control mechanisms comprising valves, switches, breakers or the like which may be incorporated in or associated with the metering devices, in the same or separated housings or locations relative to a particular utilities system.